On Oct. 3, Miriam Carey was leading the police in Washington D.C. in a deadly chase. She led them from the White House to the Capitol Building where she attempted to drive her car into the large fence security barriers. She was then shot to death by police.
Questions are arising about whether or not this was a terrorist attempt, if it was related to the current state of the government and if deadly force was reasonable against Carey.
The whole incident does seem very odd, as she drove her car into the fence of the Capitol right when there was high political tension occurring as Congress was debating about the government shutdown. Her death caused the Capitol to go into lockdown.
Her death and the government shutdown just seem like a coincidence, though in statements made by her family, it was reported that Carey suffered from post-partum depression and wasn’t thinking clearly. There’s no reason to assume that she was a terrorist.
The other moral issue of this incident is the use of deadly force. I think it was completely reasonable in this case for the police to open fire on her. It has been reported that she had no gun, but she was in her car and was heading directly toward an important national building. The car itself was enough of a deadly weapon; after all, two policemen were injured as a result of her car chase.
The whole debate over deadly force has even led to the two Capitol police officers being pulled off duty “pending the outcome of investigation.” What do people think they did? They saw a crazy driver coming to a national building with many important people like senators and congressmen. Were they supposed to let her go? How else could the policemen subdue her? The cops had her surrounded before the end and she refused to stop and surrender. Instead, she continued the chase. These cops had no choice but to open fire.
It is terrible that the chase led to her death, but if you are attacking a government building, driving your car into fences, it really does not seem that you are up to any good. However, I can empathize for this woman. She was going through depression, but there is fine line between feeling sorry for someone because of their illness versus feeling sorry for them because of their irresponsible actions. She had the potential to harm other human life. Unfortunately to prevent other lives from being taken, her life was taken. The policemen were justified in their actions. All they were trying to do was protect the safety of others.
2 COMMENTS
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You should probably do some research before you opine.
1. Her death didn’t cause the Capitol to go into lockdown. Shots unnecessarily fired by police caused the Capitol to go into lockdown. Miriam Carey never fired a shot.
2. The police fired on her when she fled from them. They had no idea where she was going. By the way, resisting arrest isn’t a crime worthy of execution.
3. Miriam Carey’s car was STUCK on a median, going nowhere, when the police shot and killed her. The police had enough time and confidence in their own safety to pull her 18 month old child from the car before firing on her.
4. Eyewitness reports state that she had exited her car prior to them firing on her. There was no danger.
5. And as for why this debate is confusing to you? It’s because you haven’t done your homework.
You should of read the actual police report which is available online. She did not her anything but a bike rack which accidentally made a gate guard fall down. That’s how all of this started.
Also, the closing off of Congress was due to shots fired by an already overreacted police force that went AGAINST its own protocol to fire at a moving vehicle.
Lastly, the police report conspicuously dismiss what eyewitnesses have said that they shot her on sight the moment she got out of the car and the car was already disabled. In fact you can watch a clip of one eyewitness that saw the whole thing and was interviewed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that stated they grabbed the baby first then went to bust their guns onto the as she got out of the car.
Either way, deadly force was not needed to be used, because she didn’t hit a person or shown undoubtedly that she had intent to hurt people. The only two injuries was that one gate guard who fell when she pushed the bike rack over, and one cop that crashed into a barrier that was completely unrelated to the incident, yet the media keeps trying to make a false connection (yet still self-inflicted).